The book was depressing and the way she dealt with the situation with her daughter frustrated me. I kept inwardly yelling at her that if she were the "strong woman" she thought she was she wouldn't have sat idly by while her beautiful, young daughterThe book was depressing and the way she dealt with the situation with her daughter frustrated me. I kept inwardly yelling at her that if she were the "strong woman" she thought she was she wouldn't have sat idly by while her beautiful, young daughter placed her life in danger being homeless in the harsh Canadian elements. It's like a mom of a toddler who allows bad behavior saying "she needs to work though it" or "get it out of his system". It's like the same thing here only with the child stepping dangerously toward a cliff. Screw that. Sometimes you need to step in and take charge. If the story wasn't so contrary (feminist acting so helpless), I would have given it a 5 star. Story a 2 star, writing a 5 star. Her writing is what held the book. That alone is what kept me turning the pages....more

I was swept away with Erin's magical storytelling. This should be made into a movie, but only if Tim Burton directs it. Any other person will not do it justice. It also should be made into a real circus. This is one of those books that really gets yoI was swept away with Erin's magical storytelling. This should be made into a movie, but only if Tim Burton directs it. Any other person will not do it justice. It also should be made into a real circus. This is one of those books that really gets you to thinking about the author: what she's like, how she ticks....more

Truly a gifted author. I'm adding her to my read-everything-she's-ever-written list. Since I accomplished such on my Ian McEwan list, I was feeling empty. Ms Fremlin is the female equivalent, and my only complaint is her bio states she was born in 19Truly a gifted author. I'm adding her to my read-everything-she's-ever-written list. Since I accomplished such on my Ian McEwan list, I was feeling empty. Ms Fremlin is the female equivalent, and my only complaint is her bio states she was born in 1914. This means that once I'm done with my list I, sadly, shouldn't expect any more....more

“Yet each disappointment Ted felt in his wife, each incremental deflation, was accompanied by a seizure of guilt; many years ago, he had taken the passion he felt for Susan and folded it in half, so he no longer had a drowning, helpless feeling when he glimpsed her beside him in bed: her ropy arms and soft, generous ass. Then he’d folded it in half again, so when he felt desire for Susan, it no longer brought with it an edgy terror of never being satisfied. Then in half again, so that feeling desire entailed no immediate need to act. Then in half again, so he hardly felt it. His desire was so small in the end that Ted could slip it inside his desk or a pocket and forget about it, and this gave him a feeling of safety and accomplishment, of having dismantled a perilous apparatus that might have crushed them both. Susan was baffled at first, then distraught; she’d hit him twice across the face; she’d run from the house in a thunderstorm and slept at a motel; she’d wrestled Ted to the bedroom floor in a pair of black crotchless underpants. But eventually a sort of amnesia had overtaken Susan; her rebellion and hurt had melted away, deliquesced into a sweet, eternal sunniness that was terrible in the way that life would be terrible, Ted supposed, without death to give it gravitas and shape. He’d presumed at first that her relentless cheer was mocking, another phase in her rebellion, until it came to him that Susan had forgotten how things were between them before Ted began to fold up his desire; she’d forgotten and was happy — had never not been happy — and while all of this bolstered his awe at the gymnastic adaptability of the human mind, it also made him feel that his wife had been brainwashed. By him.”
―
Jennifer Egan,
A Visit from the Goon Squad